Deck 4: Religious Liberty and Church-State Relations

Question 1

Our legal traditions recognize government as parens patriae, meaning literally _____________________.

A) "parent of the country"
B) "in the place of the parents"
C) "king of kings"
D) "founding fathers"

Answer 1

A

Question 2

In Lynch v. Donnelly (1984), the Supreme Court ____________ a city-sponsored Christmas nativity scene as a violation of the Establishment Clause.

A) upheld
B) struck down
C) refused to review
D) none of the above

Answer 2

A

Question 3

In Employment Division v. Smith (1990), the Supreme Court rejected a claim by _________________ that their ritualistic use of peyote constituted free exercise of religion.

A) Rastafarians
B) Native Americans
C) Satanists
D) Buddhists

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Can a parent's religious beliefs serve as a basis for barring the state from requiring medical treatment of his or her child for the purpose of remedying a non-life-threatening condition?

Question 5

In his original draft of the Bill of Rights, _________________ proposed that state as well as federal establishments of religion be prohibited.

A) Thomas Jefferson
B) Alexander Hamilton
C) James Madison
D) John Jay

Question 6

Would a state policy of providing parents with vouchers that can be redeemed at all accredited schools, including sectarian ones, violate the Establishment Clause?

Question 7

Is the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance violative of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment? {Mention decision by Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Newdow v. U.S. Congress, June 26, 2002. Writing for a divided panel in Newdow, Judge Alfred Goodwin observed that leading schoolchildren in a pledge that refers to United States is "one nation under God" is as objectionable as making them say "we are a nation 'under Jesus,' a nation 'under Vishnu,' a nation 'under Zeus,' or a nation 'under no god,' because none of these professions can be neutral with respect to religion."}

Question 8

By what reasoning is the injunction "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" held to prohibit a nonsectarian prayer at a public school graduation ceremony?

Question 9

The term "religion" comes from the Latin religare, which means _________.

A) to regulate
B) to revere
C) to restrain
D) to restructure

Question 10

Does the Supreme Court's constitutional objection to student prayers at high school football games apply to student prayers at college athletic events?

Question 11

Does the Supreme Court's refusal to extend the protection of the Free Exercise Clause to the sacramental use of peyote by members of the Native American Church mean that the Court, or the Constitution, is culturally biased in favor of traditional Judeo-Christian religions?

Question 12

In Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940), the Supreme Court struck down a state law that prohibited _____________ for any religious or charitable cause without prior approval of a state agency.

A) public meetings
B) door-to-door solicitation
C) tax exemptions
D) none of the above

Question 13

Could the state's prerogative of granting a property tax exemption to religious sects be confined to those existing in the United States at the time of the ratification of the First Amendment?

Question 14

Does a policy of strict separation of religion and government imply that government is hostile toward religion or merely neutral on the matter?

Question 15

In Minersville School District v. Gobitis (1940), the Supreme Court upheld a local school board requirement that all public school students participate in a daily __________ program.

A) Bible reading
B) flag salute
C) military training
D) "released time"

Question 16

Doesn't the term free exercise of religion imply the right to engage in behavior that society considers to be unconventional or even immoral, as long as the conduct is engaged in freely by all participants and is based on sincere religious beliefs?

Question 17

"Live Free or Die" is the state motto of ________________.

A) Massachusetts
B) Rhode Island
C) Vermont
D) New Hampshire

Question 18

Could a child of twelve, acting independently of his or her parents, sell religious literature on the public streets in violation of child labor laws?

Question 19

In Goldman v. Weinberger (1986), the Supreme Court upheld an Air Force dress code requirement against the challenge of a(an) _______ who was disciplined for wearing a _______ while in uniform.

A) Rastafarian; dreadlocks
B) Sikh; turban
C) Satanist; pentagram
D) Orthodox Jew; yarmulke

Question 20

The Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment was definitively applied to the states in _____________.

A) Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940)
B) Everson v. Board of Education (1947)
C) Zorach v. Clauson (1952)
D) Walz v. Tax Commission (1970)

Question 21

In _____________, the Supreme Court held that police could not prohibit members of the Jehovah's Witnesses from peaceable and orderly proselytizing on Sundays merely because other citizens complained.

A) Douglas v. City of Jeanette (1943)
B) Torcaso v. Watkins (1961)
C) Brown v. Pena (1977)
D) Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940)

Question 22

The phrase "a wall of separation between church and state" can be traced to the writings of _______________.

A) Thomas Paine
B) Thomas Jefferson
C) Henry David Thoreau
D) John Adams

Question 23

In _______________, the Court struck down a state law that prohibited door-to-door solicitation for any religious or charitable cause without prior approval of a state agency

A) McDaniel v. Paty (1978)
B) Torcaso v. Watkins (1961)
C) Brown v. Pena (1977)
D) Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940)

Question 24

In Zorach v. Clauson (1952), Justice ________________ wrote: "We are a people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being."

A) William O. Douglas
B) Robert Jackson
C) Felix Frankfurter
D) Hugo Black

Question 25

Justice _________________ was the lone dissenter in Engel v. Vitale, the famous school prayer decision of 1962.

A) Felix Frankfurter
B) Potter Stewart
C) Thurgood Marshall
D) Earl Warren

Question 26

In ___________________, the Supreme Court held that private educational institutions that practiced racial discrimination could be denied their federal income tax exemptions by the Internal Revenue Service.

A) Mueller v. Allen (1983)
B) Bob Jones University v. United States (1983)
C) Widmar v. Vincent (1981)
D) Lynch v. Donnelly (1984)

Question 27

In Employment Division v. Smith (1990) the Court rejected Smith's claim that the free exercise of religion included his _______________.

A) ritualistic use of peyote
B) right to practice polygamy
C) burning of the Bible as a form of protest against Christian fundamentalism
D) choice not to disclose his social security number to his employer

Question 28

According to the test delineated in Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971), to survive an Establishment Clause challenge, a law or practice must _______________.

A) have a secular purpose
B) not have the principal effect of inhibiting or advancing religion
C) avoid excessive government entanglement with religion
D) all of the above

Question 29

Which of the following has been held by the Supreme Court to violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment?

A) the provision of legislative chaplains at state expense
B) the public display of a city-owned creche
C) a creche prominently displayed on the grand staircase inside a county courthouse
D) an arrangement featuring a Christmas tree and a Hanukkah Menora placed just outside a city-county building

Question 30

To pass the Lemon test, a law must, among other things, have a ____________.

A) negative impact on organized religion
B) pro-religious slant
C) secular legislative purpose
D) tendency to promote and advance the expression of religious beliefs

Question 31

In Davis v. Beason (1890), Justice ___________ stated that "the term 'religion' has reference to one's view of his relations to his Creator, and to the obligations they impose of reverence for His being and character, and obedience to His will."

A) Salmon P. Chase
B) John Marshall Harlan
C) William Day
D) Stephen J. Field

Question 32

In Everson v. Board of Education, New Jersey's reimbursement of parents for costs incurred in transporting their children by bus to and from parochial schools was _________________.

A) held constitutional under the "student benefit" theory
B) invalidated as a violation of the principle of separation of church and state
C) held not to present an establishment clause question
D) held to constitute excessive entanglement between government and religion

Question 33

What was the first case in which the Supreme Court applied the Establishment Clause to the states via the Fourteenth Amendment?

A) Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)
B) Sherbert v. Verner (1963)
C) Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940)
D) Everson v. Board of Education (1947)

Question 34

In 1985, Justice ____________ wrote an opinion dissenting from the entire thrust of the modern Supreme Court's Establishment Clause jurisprudence.

A) Harry Blackmun
B) John P. Stevens
C) Byron White
D) William Brennan

Question 35

In Epperson v. Arkansas (1968), the Supreme Court asserted that a state could not prevent its teachers from discussing the theory of ____________.

A) creationism
B) evolution
C) social Darwinism
D) racial superiority

Question 36

In Board of Education v. Allen (1968), the Supreme Court upheld a New York statute requiring local public school districts to _____________ to students in private and parochial schools.

A) provide transportation
B) provide tuition tax credits
C) lend certain textbooks
D) provide civics lessons

Question 37

In _____________, the Court unanimously struck down a Maryland constitutional provision requiring persons seeking public office to take an oath declaring their belief in God.

A) McDaniel v. Paty (1978)
B) Torcaso v. Watkins (1961)
C) Brown v. Pena (1977)
D) Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940)

Question 38

At the time the Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and ____________continued to recognize the Congregational Church as the official, state-sponsored religious denomination.

A) South Carolina
B) North Carolina
C) New Hampshire
D) none of the above

Question 39

The "__________" theory articulated in Everson v. Board of Education (1947) has, for the most part, been maintained by the Supreme Court.

A) strict neutrality
B) cultural diversity
C) child benefit
D) none of the above

Question 40

Which of the following members of the Supreme Court was most clearly identified with the view that governmental policies should accommodate religious practices?

A) Hugo Black
B) Robert Jackson
C) William Brennan
D) Warren Burger

Question 41

In _______________, the Supreme Court upheld an Air Force dress code requirement against the challenge of an Orthodox Jew who was disciplined for wearing a yarmulke while in uniform. Stressing the need for discipline and uniformity in the military, the Court rejected the challenge.

A) Rostker v. Goldberg (1981)
B) Goldman v. Weinberger (1986)
C) United States v. Bland (1931)
D) none of the above

Question 42

In ___________________, the Supreme Court held that if a school permits after-hours activities concerning moral or character development, it cannot prohibit activities even if they involve religious instruction of elementary school students.

A) Board of Education v. Mergens (1990)
B) Widmar v. Vincent (1981)
C) Good News Club v. Milford Central School (2001)
D) none of the above

Question 43

The Supreme Court has adopted _____________ metaphor of a "wall of separation between church and state" as capturing the essential meaning of the Establishment Clause.

A) James Madison's
B) Thomas Jefferson's
C) Alexander Hamilton's
D) none of the above

Question 44

In ______________, a case involving members of the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Supreme Court held unconstitutional a city council's denial of a permit to the Jehovah's Witnesses to use the city park for a public meeting.

A) Brown v. Pena (1977)
B) Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940)
C) Niemotko v. Maryland (1951)
D) none of the above

Question 45

In _____________, the Supreme Court said that freedom of religion is a fundamental right that could be abridged only if necessary to protect a compelling government interest.

A) Hobbie v. Unemployment Appeals Division (1987)
B) Thomas v. Review Board (1981)
C) Sherbert v. Verner (1963)
D) none of the above

Question 46

Chief Justice ____________ once wrote, "…as a law of the organization of society under the exclusive dominion of the United States, it is provided that plural marriages shall not be allowed. Can a man excuse his practices to the contrary because of his religious belief? To permit this would be to make the professed doctrines of religious belief superior to the law of the land, and in effect to permit every citizen to become a law unto himself. Government could exist only in name under such circumstances."

A) Morrison R. Waite
B) Melville Fuller
C) Edward Douglass White
D) none of the above

Question 47

In ____________, the Supreme Court upheld application of the federal antipolygamy statute to a Mormon who claimed it was his religious duty to have several wives.

A) Douglas v. City of Jeanette (1943)
B) Reynolds v. United States (1879)
C) Torcaso v. Watkins (1961)
D) none of the above

Question 48

In ______________, the Supreme Court upheld a New York statute requiring local public school districts to lend textbooks on secular subjects to students in private and parochial schools based on the child benefit theory.

A) Board of Education v. Allen (1968)
B) Meek v. Pittenger (1975)
C) Everson v. Board of Education (1947)
D) none of the above

Question 49

In ______________, the Supreme Court upheld a child labor law that prohibited boys under the age of 12 and girls under the age of 18 from selling newspapers on the street against an attack based on the Free Exercise Clause.

A) Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)
B) Minnesota v. Hershberger (1990)
C) Meyer v. Nebraska (1923)
D) Prince v. Massachusetts (1944)